Dudley North (UK Parliament constituency)

Dudley North is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Marco Longhi, of the Conservative Party.

For the 16th-century politician, see Dudley North, 4th Baron North.

Dudley North
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dudley North in the West Midlands
Location of the West Midlands within England
CountyWest Midlands
Electorate61,714 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsDudley
Current constituency
Created1997
Member of ParliamentMarco Longhi (Conservative)
Number of membersOne
Created fromDudley East
Dudley West

Campaigns in the seat have resulted in a minimum of 30% of votes at each election consistently for the same two parties' choice for candidate, and the next highest-placed share having fluctuated between 5.5% and 24% of the vote since its creation: for differing parties, the highest placed of these having been UKIP. The seat attracted seven candidates in 1997 and 2015 and four in 2001.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[2] Party
1997 Ross Cranston Labour
2005 Ian Austin Labour
February 2019 Independent
2019 Marco Longhi Conservative

Boundaries

Dudley North is one of four constituencies presently covering the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, encompassing the northern part of the borough, including the town centre.

2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Castle and Priory, Gornal, St James's, St Thomas's, Sedgley, and Upper Gornal and Woodsetton.

1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Castle and Priory, Coseley East, Coseley West, Gornal, St James's, St Thomas's, and Sedgley.

History

Before the 1997 election, Dudley was divided into East and West constituencies, rather than the current North and Dudley South. Dudley North covers much of the area previously covered by Dudley East, which included Netherton but excluded the western part of Sedgley, which was part of Dudley West.

The earlier Dudley constituency, consisting of central Dudley, Netherton, and Stourbridge, was more prominent before 1974. Colonel George Wigg (later Lord Wigg), Prime Minister Harold Wilson's adviser on security matters and later a Minister of State, held the seat for many years until elevated to the peerage in 1968. At the Dudley by-election in March of that year, Donald Williams, the Conservative candidate, gained the seat with a swing of 20%. In 1970, however, the seat was regained by Labour with the election of Dr John Gilbert, who subsequently represented Dudley East from February 1974 until its abolition at the 1997 general election. Gilbert served as a Minister of State under both James Callaghan and (as a peer) Tony Blair. Dudley West meanwhile was represented, until his death in 1994, by Conservative MP Dr John Blackburn. At the subsequent Dudley West by election the seat was a Labour gain with Ian Pearson elected. After boundary changes, Pearson became the MP for the newly created Dudley South seat at the 1997 election

Ross Cranston (Labour) was the first MP for the new Dudley North seat after winning it at the 1997 election; he remained the constituencies MP until the 2005 general election, when it was retained by his successor Ian Austin.

In 2010, Austin held onto his seat with 38.7% of the vote, a narrow 1.7% ahead of Conservative candidate Graeme Brown, at the first general election in 36 years which resulted in a hung parliament. Despite increasing his majority to 11% at the 2015 election (4,181 votes), in 2017 – after two recounts – it was reduced to a mere 22 votes, the fourth smallest majority at that election, and was the Labour seat that was closest to being taken by the Conservatives that election. (Walsall North, a closely neighbouring constituency was indeed gained by the Conservatives.)[3] In 2019, the Conservatives gained the seat for the first time, with their candidate Marco Longhi winning a majority of more than 11,000 votes.[4] The Conservative vote share increased by 16.6% in the seat, which was the party's fifth-largest increase at the election.[5]

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Dudley North [6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Marco Longhi 23,134 63.1 16.6
Labour Melanie Dudley 11,601 31.6 14.9
Liberal Democrats Ian Flynn 1,210 3.3 2.4
Green Mike Harrison 739 2.0 1.4
Majority 11,533 31.5 N/A
Turnout 36,666 59.2 3.5
Registered electors 61,936
Conservative gain from Labour Swing 15.8
General election 2017: Dudley North[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ian Austin 18,090 46.5 4.7
Conservative Les Jones 18,068 46.4 15.6
UKIP Bill Etheridge 2,144 5.5 18.5
Liberal Democrats Ben France 368 0.9 0.3
Green Andrew Nixon 240 0.6 0.7
Majority 22 0.06 -10.9
Turnout 38,910 62.7
Labour hold Swing 5.5
General election 2015: Dudley North[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ian Austin 15,885 41.8 3.2
Conservative Les Jones[9] 11,704 30.8 6.2
UKIP Bill Etheridge[9] 9,113 24.0 15.5
Green Will Duckworth[10] 517 1.4 1.4
Liberal Democrats Mike Collins[11] 478 1.3 9.3
Apni Rehan Afzal 156 0.4 0.4
TUSC David Pitt[12] 139 0.4 0.4
Majority 4,181 11.0 9.3
Turnout 37,992 62.6 0.9
Labour hold Swing 4.7

The original Conservative candidate for the 2015 election Afzal Amin was suspended after allegations he persuaded the English Defence League to announce a march against a mosque in the constituency[13]

General election 2010: Dudley North[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ian Austin 14,923 38.7 3.9
Conservative Graeme Brown 14,274 37.0 5.6
Liberal Democrats Mike Beckett 4,066 10.5 0.2
UKIP Malcolm Davies 3,267 8.5 3.9
BNP Ken Griffiths 1,899 4.9 4.8
National Front Kevin Inman 173 0.4 N/A
Majority 649 1.7
Turnout 38,602 63.5 2.2
Labour hold Swing 4.7

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Dudley North[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ian Austin 18,306 44.2 7.9
Conservative Ian Hillas 12,874 31.1 3.4
Liberal Democrats Gerry Lewis 4,257 10.3 1.6
BNP Simon Darby 4,022 9.7 5.0
UKIP Malcolm Davis 1,949 4.7 N/A
Majority 5,432 13.1
Turnout 41,408 60.2 4.3
Labour hold Swing 2.3
General election 2001: Dudley North[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ross Cranston 20,095 52.1 0.9
Conservative Andrew Griffiths 13,295 34.5 3.1
Liberal Democrats Richard Burt 3,352 8.7 0.5
BNP Simon Darby 1,822 4.7 N/A
Majority 6,800 17.6
Turnout 38,564 55.9 13.5
Labour hold Swing 1.1

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Dudley North[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ross Cranston 24,471 51.2 N/A
Conservative Charles MacNamara 15,014 31.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats Gerry Lewis 3,939 8.2 N/A
Socialist Labour Mark Atherton 2,155 4.5 N/A
Referendum Stuart Bavester 1,201 2.5 N/A
National Front George Cartwright 559 1.2 N/A
National Democrats Simon Darby 469 1.0 N/A
Majority 9,457 19.8 N/A
Turnout 47,808 69.5 N/A
Labour win (new seat)
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See also

Notes
  1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References
  1. "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)
  3. Leather, Harry (9 June 2017). "Dudley General Election results: Ian Austin wins Dudley North by just 22 votes". Express & Star. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020.
  4. Dare, Tom (13 December 2019). "Dudley North goes blue for first time in history in general election 2019". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  5. Uberoi, Elise; Baker, Carl; Cracknell, Richard (19 December 2019). General Election 2019: results and analysis (PDF) (Report). House of Commons Library. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  6. "Dudley North parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. 13 December 2019.
  7. Bev Holder (12 May 2017). "Nominations are now closed and all Dudley General Election candidates are now confirmed". Dudley News. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  8. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. "Les Jones confirmed as the new Tory candidate for Dudley North". Dudley News. 26 March 2015.
  10. "General Election". West Midlands Green Party. Archived from the original on 13 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  11. "List of selected candidates". Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  12. TUSC parliamentary candidates in May 2015 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, 4 February 2015
  13. "Tory candidate suspended over vote-winning allegations". BBC News. 22 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  14. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  15. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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